A/HRC/21/46 reconciliation, establish independent oversight of the security system and restore confidence in the institutions of the State and promote the rule of law in accordance with international human rights law”. More broadly, these proximate aims are expected to contribute to the accomplishment of the following goals: “preventing the recurrence of crises and future violations of human rights, to ensure social cohesion, nation-building, ownership and inclusiveness at the national and local levels and to promote reconciliation”. 2. International standards 13. Resolution 18/7 makes reference to a number of applicable international instruments regarding the mandate, including the set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity and the updated set of principles, which were accompanied by explanatory reports 2 prepared by the independent expert; and the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly in 2005. The Special Rapporteur stresses the importance of these documents and standards and has the intention to develop them further throughout the term of his mandate. 14. Regarding human rights treaty provisions, resolution 18/7 refers to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 8 June 1977, and other relevant international human rights law and international humanitarian law instruments. The resolution also makes explicit reference to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and its article 24, paragraph 2, which sets out the right of victims to know the truth regarding the circumstances of the enforced disappearance, the progress and results of the investigation and the fate of the disappeared person and State party obligations to take appropriate measures in this regard. The Convention’s preamble reaffirms the right to freedom to seek, receive and impart information to that end. The Special Rapporteur notes that the various elements of the mandate have been the subject of uneven legal development, and that he intends to contribute to developing them during the course of his tenure. B. Historical context 15. The measures of truth-seeking, justice initiatives, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence emerged first as practices and experiences in post-authoritarian settings, such as the Latin American countries of the Southern Cone and, to a lesser extent, those in Central and Eastern Europe and South Africa. 3 Despite all their differences, these settings shared the following main characteristics. First, the countries concerned had achieved relatively high degrees of both horizontal and vertical institutionalization, that is, their institutions could cover all their national territories and, their legal systems already contained provisions for the regulation of critical areas of the relationship between citizens and State 2 3 Independent study on best practices, including recommendations, to assist States in strengthening their domestic capacity to combat all aspects of Impunity, E/CN.4/2004/88;report of the independent expert to update the Set of Principles to combat impunity, E/CN.4/2005/102. Eventually, these measures came to be referred to as “transitional justice”. The present document will occasionally use this term as shorthand for the comprehensive approach to the implementation of the four measures under the mandate. The use of the term in the present document does not denote a special kind of justice. 5